A few days after Research In Motion's first
foray into tablet computers, the BlackBerry PlayBook, began garnering
less-than-stellar reviews, RIM's co-CEOs are coming out to defend it.

Whileour
review round-upcertainly
didn't paint a flattering picture of the PlayBook, we did have some bright
spots to point out. Meanwhile,aReutersreport this morningbegan with the following
line: "RIM's PlayBook tablet bombed with influential technology
reviewers who called the iPad competitor a rushed job that won't even provide
RIM's vaunted email service unless it's hooked up to a BlackBerry."

The
report also quotesthe New
York Times' David Pogue's review: "RIM has just shipped a BlackBerry
product that cannot do email. It must be skating season in hell."

Not only
does the PlayBook lack a dedicated email client, there are also the glaring omissions
of calendar and contacts apps.

"A
lot of the people that want this want a secure and free extension of their
BlackBerry," Balsillie told Bloomberg, adding that more than 60
million BlackBerry users can pair their phones and PlayBooks to read e-mail.

RIM
shares, which are already down 7.2 percent this year, fell to $53.92 yesterday
after the critical reviews.

Co-CEO
Mike Lazaridis also defended his new product toBloomberg, saying that the PlayBook
will distinguish itself from the iPad and other worthy competitors through
better technology, the same way it did with mobile phones. He cited the
tablet's security features, which appeal to business customers. He also boasted
about the PlayBook's smaller size, calling it "ultraportable".

"This
is superior," he toldBloomberg.
"It’s far more portable, it’s lighter in your hands, you can hold it for
longer."

And while
the spin-doctors try to control the damage, analysts don't expect any miracles
from the device. "There’s no doubt the PlayBook has a lot of power,"
Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg toldBloomberg.
"The question is whether those things will matter to consumers more than
the things that the iPad can do, namely with its breadth and depth of
applications."

Gartner
estimates that the PlayBook could capture 10 percent of the tablet market by
2015, with 47 percent going to Apple's iPad.

Right, because when people try using it and find things they don't like its always best to say that everything's great and that they are wrong. I believe that usually works out best!

Oh yeah, and excellent work on carrying that dual-leader torch there, RIM. Because, in the words of "Oscar" from "The Office", it's always better to have two leaders instead of one, that's why we have two presidents, I mean right?!

"Mac OS X is like living in a farmhouse in the country with no locks, and Windows is living in a house with bars on the windows in the bad part of town." -- Charlie Miller